Man, this honestly looks horrible. Looks so cheap and cheesy and for $300? Grimlock doesn't even look like he can fit on the squares! The movie version looks way more practical and professional than this POS. I'm a huge Chess fan and I can honestly say this is crap.

The only good thing about it is the board. Unfortunately the movie versions isn't as nice, but still cool.

I don't think I'll be able to avoid buying this. It's pretty much to world's best conversation piece, and I like chess a lot.
The character assignments aren't what I would have picked (I don't think I'd have bothered with the season 3 guys) but they work none the less. Having Galvatron in this set and no Cyclonus also doesn't really work for me. I think they should have stuck to either pre or post movie.
I guess if I could pick:
King = Optimus Prime
Queen = Ironhide
Knight = Grimlock
Bishop = Prowl
Rook = Jazz
Pawn = Bumblebee / Cliffjumper